<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>the situation of a question. by pyroallerdyce</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27268705">the situation of a question.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce'>pyroallerdyce</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>(not at all spooky) skywalkers series [october writing challenge 2020] [29]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Established Relationship, F/M, Friendship, Male Friendship, One Shot Collection, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Relationship(s), Rings, Short One Shot, Tumblr Prompt, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000, october writing challenge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:34:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,923</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27268705</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It took Ben so long to come up with ideas when it came to his relationship with Rey that when he did come up with one, he held to it like a lifeline.  So when he’d finalized his proposal plan, he knew it was a good one.  It echoed the way they met with also being different, the setting would be sufficiently romantic, and everything would be perfect.</p><p>Well, if she said yes, which he was ninety-nine point eight percent sure she would.</p><p>He had just enough doubt to account for the other point two percent.  He figured that was a sign that things were right considering how much doubt he usually had about relationships.</p><p>or:  Ben wants to propose to Rey.  But Ben has still not proposed to Rey.</p><p>(these will make little sense unless you read the whole series.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>(not at all spooky) skywalkers series [october writing challenge 2020] [29]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947904</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>October Writing Challenge - 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the situation of a question.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>attempt to break my writer's block day 29.  HOW ARE THERE ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT.</p><p>Um, this one meanders a bit, I think.  I'm not particularly fond of it, but all attempts at rewrites were horrendous, so we're going with this.</p><p>and as always, if you like what you read and you want to read more, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void.  enjoy!</p><p>october 29: "Trust me, I know exactly what I'm doing.  Mostly."</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>2020</b>
</p><p>It took Ben so long to come up with ideas when it came to his relationship with Rey that when he did come up with one, he held to it like a lifeline.  So when he’d finalized his proposal plan, he knew it was a good one.  It echoed the way they met with also being different, the setting would be sufficiently romantic, and everything would be perfect.</p><p>Well, if she said yes, which he was ninety-nine point eight percent sure she would.</p><p>He had just enough doubt to account for the other point two percent.  He figured that was a sign that things were right considering how much doubt he usually had about relationships.</p><p>He’d bought the ring the week after he’d agreed to become CEO of Skywalker Incorporated.  He’d started thinking of what he was going to say before realizing that he’d be so nervous at the moment that he’d just forget everything that he had decided to say, so he stopped thinking about that and started focusing on other things that he needed to do in preparation of taking over for his grandfather on January first.</p><p>But in doing so, he missed taking advantage of every opportunity that there was in the month of December.</p><p>Well, fuck.</p><p>They spent Christmas at the penthouse with his family, and he could tell that they were all anticipating him doing it then.  Well, everyone but Rey because she had said to him very early on in their relationship that her father had proposed to her mother in front of her mother’s family and that she had felt an obligation to say yes even though she hadn’t been ready to get married.  He did not want to make her feel like her mother had, even if the situations were very different.  The marriage had eventually turned into one of love for Rey’s mother, and Rey already loved him, though Ben still didn’t understand why, therefore that wasn’t a problem.  So he didn’t propose on Christmas, and then he didn’t propose at midnight during his parents’ New Year’s Eve party.  </p><p>Ben could tell his family was getting frustrated, especially since he knew Anakin had told all of them that he had admitted that he wanted to marry Rey.  But he had a plan, and he was going to stick to that plan whether his family understood that or not.  He had learned from his rather dumb and rebellious high school years that having a plan to execute kept his focus on the task at hand, and those plans had gotten him through life pretty successfully since.  A plan was not an outlier.  Instead, for him, it was the norm.  </p><p>It just happened to be that this one was about proposing to Rey.</p><p>On January first, Rey helped Ben set up his new office at Skywalker Incorporated headquarters, and then on the second, his new life begun.  He got swept up into meetings and negotiations and everything that his job entailed so much that his head felt like it was spinning, and before he knew it, every opportunity to propose in January had gone too.</p><p>But when it still hadn’t happened by February thirteenth, Poe scheduled an appointment with Ben’s new secretary.</p><p>“Mr. Solo?” echoed through Ben’s office while he was reading through a financial report.  “Mr. Dameron is here for your two-thirty.”</p><p>Ben pulled up his schedule and realized he had completely missed that he even had two-thirty, let alone that it was with Poe.  Pressing the right button on the intercom, Ben told her to send Poe in, then stood up when the door opened.  “I was not expecting to find you on my schedule.”</p><p>“And I was not expecting you to take this long to do something that is so incredibly simple I managed to do it fifteen years ago,” Poe said as Ben walked around his desk.  “Honestly, Solo, get your head out of your ass already.”</p><p>Ben was confused.  “Excuse me?”</p><p>“Do you want to know the conversation I overheard at the café at lunch was?  Because when I heard it, I called over here and made this damn appointment just so you’d be forced to talk to me without interruption.”</p><p>Ben was even more confused.  “What are you talking about?”</p><p>“I’m talking about the fact that I just sat there during lunch and listened to my wife as she talked to your girlfriend about how you haven’t proposed yet and that she’s starting to wonder if you will,” Poe said seriously.  “What the fuck are you waiting for?”</p><p>Ben blinked several times.  “I, um,” he started, but his brain was working so fast trying to compute what Poe had said that he was unable to form a sentence.  </p><p>Rey thought what?</p><p>She couldn’t possibly think that.</p><p>Could she?</p><p>“Apparently she was expecting it this holiday season, which to be honest we all were considering that you had bought the ring and everything, but here we are with Valentine’s Day tomorrow and she still doesn’t have a ring on her finger.  So she’s wondering if that will ever happen and to be perfectly honest, I don’t blame her,” Poe said, peering at Ben in concern.  “What is going on?”</p><p>Ben forced himself to take a deep breath.  “I haven’t been able to execute my plan.”</p><p>“You and these fucking plans,” Poe said, shaking his head.  “Do something spontaneously for once in your life, Ben.”</p><p>“You don’t understand,” Ben started, but Poe cut him off.</p><p>“No, I don’t understand.  I don’t understand how it is you have the woman that you love, who loves you in return, wondering if you’re ever going to ask her to marry you.  I do not understand that.”</p><p>Ben sighed heavily and collapsed into one of the chairs he took more informal meetings in.  “I know what I’m doing.”</p><p>“You quite clearly do not know what you’re doing,” Poe said, sitting down in another.</p><p>“Trust me, I know exactly what I’m doing.  Mostly.”</p><p>“Mostly?”</p><p>“I need a rainstorm and I need to be with her during the rainstorm, and that hasn’t happened.”</p><p>Poe groaned.  “You have got to be kidding me.”</p><p>“No, I’m not, and I don’t expect you to understand that either.”</p><p>“Ben, cook her dinner.  Light some candles.  Put on some music.  Dance.  Then ask.”</p><p>“I am not doing what you did with Zorii, thank you very much,” Ben said seriously.  “I know this is the right way to do this.  I just need to get to that point.”</p><p>“Well, that point better not be fucking March,” Poe exclaimed, “or you might not have a girlfriend much longer.”</p><p>Ben swallowed hard.  “Don’t say that to me.”</p><p>“Then fucking do something about it,” Poe said, glancing at his watch and standing up.  “I have to go.  I have a meeting to get to.”</p><p>Ben stood up as well.  “Well, thank you for coming over here to yell at me for no reason.”</p><p>“There is every reason in the fucking world and you know that,” Poe said he walked towards the door.  “Cook her dinner and ask!”</p><p>“Fuck off!” Ben called back, making Poe shake his head and walk out of the office.</p><p>Ben went back to his desk and tried to concentrate on the financial reports, but he couldn’t get his mind off of what Poe had said to him.  Rey couldn’t possibly feel that way, could she?  He tried unsuccessfully to concentrate until his secretary came on the intercom to inform him of his next meeting, and Ben shoved everything out of his mind so that he could concentrate on work.  </p><p>He didn’t think about Rey again until the workday was almost over and his secretary came on the intercom again.  “Mr. Solo, Miss Palpatine is here to see you.”</p><p>Ben blinked in surprise but then reached for the intercom.  “Let her in please.”</p><p>He stood up as the door opened, and Rey walked in clearly dressed for a night out.  “Am I forgetting about something?”</p><p>Rey laughed.  “No, not at all.  Your mother only sprung this on me a couple of hours ago and she said that if you knew, then you’d call your father.”</p><p>Ben picked up the calendar on his desk and checked the date, realizing that it was three days until his father’s birthday.  “We’re going out to dinner?”</p><p>“Yes,” Rey said, walking behind Ben’s desk and smiling.  “She has a whole night planned for us.”</p><p>“Then we’ll spend the night with my parents,” Ben said, bending to kiss her.  “You look gorgeous.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Rey murmured.  “You look tired.”</p><p>“Today was going to be a long enough day,” Ben admitted.  “But that’s alright.  I can sleep tomorrow.”</p><p>“Tomorrow?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Ben said.  “Tomorrow is Saturday, right?”</p><p>“Yes,” Rey said, her voice somewhat deflated.  “Tomorrow is Saturday.”</p><p>Ben shook his head and pulled her into a kiss.  “Don’t worry, baby.  I know it’s Valentine’s Day too.  I can sleep in the morning and take you out tomorrow night.”</p><p>“Ooh dinner,” Rey murmured.  “Going out two nights in a row.  When do we ever do that?”</p><p>“We can do it more often then if you want,” Ben said, checking the clock before walking over to the coat rack.  “I’m leaving early.”</p><p>“Good because that was the point of me coming over here,” Rey said, looking around the office.  “You still don’t have the pictures up?”</p><p>“Haven’t been able to stop working long enough to get someone to come in here and hang them up,” Ben said, putting his coat on.  “Maybe I should have them do it while I’m in a meeting in the conference room someday.”</p><p>“I would think that’s a good idea with as many meetings as you seem to have,” Rey said.  “Now let’s go so we get there before everyone else.”</p><p>“Everyone else?”</p><p>“Anakin and Padmé are coming too,” Rey said, giving him a confused look.  “Did I not say that yet?”</p><p>“No, you did not, but that just makes it better,” Ben said, walking back to his desk.  “Where are we going?”</p><p>“I have an address but I have no idea what it’s for, and Leia didn’t specify.”</p><p>“We’ll put it in the GPS and find out,” Ben said, opening a drawer to grab his wallet and keys.  The box with the ring in it was there as well, and he stared at it for a moment before quickly opening it and pulling the ring out.  He shoved it into his pocket along with his wallet, kept the keys in his hand, and then shut the drawer.  “It’s coming, Rey.”</p><p>“It’s?” she questioned.</p><p>“Did I say it’s?” Ben said quickly, shaking his head while he tried to come up with something to say to cover that up.  “I meant to say I’m coming.  Did I mention it’s been a really long day?”</p><p>Rey smiled at him.  “It’s alright, Ben.  I’ll just apologize for you when you say something dumb tonight and we’ll all move on.”</p><p>“And that,” Ben murmured as he walked up to her, “is why I love you.”</p><p>“Better not be the only reason why.”</p><p>“No,” Ben said, putting his hand in his pocket and letting his fingers dance over the ring, “it’s not.”</p><p>Rey started walking towards the door and speaking about her morning at the bookstore as Ben thought about what was in his pocket.  Valentine’s Day would work, right?  He could amend his plan to Valentine’s Day.</p><p>But he really wanted to propose in a rainstorm.</p><p>He had a decision to make.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>